PFGE agarose plugs

I've come across at least four ways of forming plugs for PFGE.
1. Buy insert moulds from (for us) Pharmacia. Although this is expensive, you can get
a lot of them. The downside is that unless you also get a gel comb from the same
company you'll have to make one the right size.
2. Get your workshop to make you a mould and compatible comb out of perspex.
3. A neat and cheap trick is to form the plugs in a disposable plastic pasteur pipette.
The agarose/cell slurry is sucked into the barrel of the pipette and set on ice. You
can then release your plugs (we call them worms) by cutting of the narrow part of the
barrel and squirting the gel/cell mixture in to your tube for lysis. A disadvantage
of this method is that although it allows you to do a lot of different samples, all
your plugs are round and don't fit your gel combs very snugly.
4. Pour the agarose/cell mixture in to a petri dish to approx 2mm depth, place on ice
and then cut out squares to make plugs using a razor blade.
Hope this helps
Ian
idunham at crc.ac.uk